The Story Of Us
by charlieh07
Summary: Thoughts and feelings of main characters as HSM story develops, at times may go slightly off canon. Please R&R! First chapter Gabi, next chapter will be Troy's thoughts.
1. The Story of Us: How We Began

_A/N: _First High School Musical story! Sorry, I know first chapter is short, if anyone is interested in this continuing, then I will increase the chapter length when I add new content :)

Please read and review, thanks!!!

_The Story Of Us: How We Began_

It all started and ended under a spotlight. A sign of things to come; and later, a reminder of something to be buried in the past.

Although it was New Years Eve, I didn't really feel like partying, I hadn't really got to know any of the other "kids" on vacation, so instead I sat with one of my oldest friends; the humble book. Some new novel; average quality I suppose, so much so, that to this day I couldn't tell you what it was called. Funny that, because I always thought I'd remember every single detail about that night.

Despite its "averageness", it was still more involving than anything going on around me, because for the first few seconds I failed to notice the bright white light trained on me. That was, I failed to notice it, until it swung directly onto my eyes, and one guy grabbed my elbow, pulling me to a standing position, while another tossed aside my reading material.

Before I knew it, I was stood on a stage in front of a microphone, with a strange guy beside me - if you could call being stood as far away as he could get without falling back into the crowd, beside me. I decided that the best thing to do was simply to stare at my feet, and wrap my arms round myself, while I waited for what would surely be a repeat performance of the time I tried to sing solo in church choir.

As the music began, I prayed for the blackout to come quickly. If I was going to be humiliated, I didn't want it to be because of my singing. I could almost feel the boy staring me out. I could definitely hear him sigh when he finished singing the first few lines of the familiar song. In the next instant I felt him turn away, and something inexplicable pulled my head down towards the microphone, and I opened my mouth, and let the words roll out over my lips.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the boy step back up, and soon our voices were singing in harmony, twisting and turning and melting together, to create this wonderful sound. I really threw myself into the song after that, taking the microphone off of its stand, and moving around to the beat. Then I made my first huge mistake of the night. I looked right into the boy's eyes.

They were this incredibly deep shade of blue, soothing, yet at the same time exciting. He was perhaps the only person I'd ever met who truly smiled with their eyes; they lit up, almost glowing from within, lifting his whole face. Those eyes almost made me forget myself; I got so lost in them that I nearly fell off the end of the stage when he danced towards me.

All too soon the last bars of the music faded away, and we were surrounded by cheers (not for the last time that night). As we stared at each other, both of us grinning like village idiots, it felt like the start of something new. (A/N: Cheesy, I know!)

Finally he spoke, introducing himself; "Troy". I gave him another smile, and in a strangely soft voice I'd never heard myself use before, I returned the favour; "Gabriella."


	2. The Story of Us: Love at First Song?

_A/N: _A little longer this time, and it's all Troy's thoughts and feelings, as if you won't be able to guess! Reading and reviewing makes for a happy and productive author :)

This chapter is dedicated to Bloody Orchid, my first _The Story of Us_ reviewer!

_The Story of Us: Love at First Song?_

It all started and ended under a spotlight. That first night we sang together I fell in love with her - I just didn't realise it at the time. Even when my stomach flipped with joy as I caught up with her outside homeroom on her first day at my school, I didn't realise it. Or perhaps I was just too scared to do so.

Right from the second I met Gabriella I knew that we would be friends for life, and I thought she saw that too. We just formed this incredible bond; it's amazing how that can happen over the silliest little things. Our moms both forced us to attend a New Years party neither us wanted to go to; we were both reluctant to get on stage and sing in front of all those people; but once the song was over we both knew that something special had happened. It wasn't much, but it was enough to bring us close together.

Our friendship was unlike any other I'd shared. Don't get me wrong, I loved Chad and Jason and Zeke like brothers; they were my guys, but a lot of our time together was centred around basketball or bravado. With Gabi, I was allowed to be myself, the real me. I could be whatever I wanted; I didn't have to be "the basketball guy" - I still could be, but at the same time I was Troy Bolton, the singer; Troy Bolton, the dancer; Troy Bolton, best friend and confidant of Gabriella Montez. Being with her was like setting a little part of myself free.

Despite my obliviousness to my love for her in the early days of our friendship, I can pinpoint the exact moment when I _knew. _I was in the rooftop garden, courtesy of the Science Club, when the guys revealed all about their little plan involving one basketball pep talk, one laptop with webcam, and two seriously broken hearts. At first I expected to be furious with the guys for making a fool out of me, but strangely I wasn't really worried about my own feelings.

My first concern was how bad the things I said must have made Gabi feel, to turn her into the sad, lonely figure she cut right now. That afternoon I was out of my seat and halfway home before the end-of-practice whistle stopped . I bolted my dinner, and ignoring my mom's protests, and left for Gabriella's.

I'm sure any normal best friend would have gave up at the point her mom said she was busy, and gently closed the door. But oh no, I couldn't do that could I? And so that's how I came to be standing on her balcony, singing my heart out, begging her to audition with me, having climbed up 70 feet of trellis - I knew that I was completely and utterly, head over heels in love with this girl.

The time practising for the callbacks flew by, it was such fun. She made me laugh, without the joke being on other people; even the slightest glance from her made me grin like an idiot. Her voice, soaring above Kelsi's talented piano playing made me feel as if I was flying above the clouds, and I never wanted to come down.

That's another thing; growing close to Gabi made me some new friends, Kelsi included. In fact it was all thanks to one of these new friends that Gabi and I got to audition for Twinkle Towne at all. Somehow the callbacks had been "mysteriously" rescheduled to the same day, same time as the championship game and scholastic decathlon. Funny that.

Anyway Tay used her smarts to halt the game and the decathlon so me and Gabs made it to the audition. Ms Darbus wasn't too keen on letting us perform, because we were a little late, but once the whole school poured into the auditorium and Kelsi appeared at the piano, there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it. I'm happy to say we won the audition, the decathlon, the game - basically the whole shebang.

The only thing I hadn't won was Gabi's heart. Yet.


End file.
